Tag Archives: United Nations
13 April 2012
Today, the Dutch Supreme Court affirmed the Hague Court of Appeal’s decision that it does not have jurisdiction to deal with the claim of the Mothers of Srebrenica against the United Nations. The Mothers of Srebrenica instigated proceedings before Dutch courts against both the Netherlands and the United Nations, claiming they had failed to prevent the genocide in Srebrenica.
The plaintiff’s submission that UN immunity should be set aside in order to ensure the right to a fair trial in Article 6 ECHR was rejected. The Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeal erred in relying on the criteria in the ECtHR cases Beer and Regan and Waite and Kennedy in order to evaluate whether UN immunity should be set aside for the right to a fair trial. The Supreme Court held that the immunity of the United Nations is absolute, and that obligations under the UN Charter should prevail over obligations arising from other international agreements according to Article 103 UN Charter. In this context, the Supreme Court followed the ECtHR’s decision in Behrami and Saramati.
The plaintiff’s submission that in case of breaches of peremptory norms the UN is not entitled to immunity was also rejected. In order to support its decision that rules of ius cogens do not set aside rules on immunity, the Supreme Court referred to the ICJ’s recent judgment in the case Germany v. Italy.
The Mothers’ claim against the Netherlands is yet to be considered in first instance.
Source: Washington Post | Dutch court rules United Nations has immunity in Srebrenica massacre case
13 December 2011
Speaking at a closed session of the UN Security Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that the situation in Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court over its crackdown on anti-government protests. Pillay estimated the number of those killed by Syrian security forces at 5,000, including 300 children.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk – Syria should be referred to ICC, UN’s Navi Pillay says
12 December 2011
On Sunday 11 December 2011, the 17th Conference under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ended with an agreement to work on a new global treaty in coming years and to establish a new climate fund.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com
15 November 2011
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged governments in rich nations to work around troubled economic times and scale up donations to a global climate change fund that is at risk of becoming an “empty shell”.
Source: http://in.reuters.com
27 October 2011
Judge Hisashi Owada, President of the International Court of Justice, gave his annual report on the activities of the Court to the UN General Assembly on 26 October 2011. He stated that it is vital that international law underpin developments on the global stage, especially in an ever increasingly globalized and interconnected world.
“It is no exaggeration to say that all regions of the world have become closely intertwined … In this 21st century, international politics are undeniably interconnected; a truly global economy has emerged; and our natural environment and global climate change have created new challenges. In these times of unprecedented interconnection between States and peoples, it is my sincere belief that a firm reliance on international law must underpin any and all future developments on the global stage.”
Source: http://www.un.org